- But it is such a perfect place to start, my love

The IB Experience

2011-10-17T19:26:00.000+02:00

This summer, I have not been very good at keeping up my blogging - I shall try to improve now that I am starting to feel pretty settled here in St. Andrews. While I was waiting for my IB grades to be released in July I felt a bit sentimental, and I ended up sending one of the pictures from our graduation ceremony to the IB alumni blog -- they ended up asking me to do a guest blog post about my "IB experience". I think it was a good way for me to get back into blogging, and I figured I should post it here as well. I got really positive response from the manager of the blog, and she sent it on to someone else - so it seems this is also going to be featured in the IBDP staff newsletter, which I must admit I think is pretty cool.

So here it is, my "IB Experience":

- --- -

At the graduation ceremony 2011 of the IBs at Nørre Gymnasium (Copenhagen, Denmark).
The white caps are a Danish custom - they normally have a red ribbon, but as IBs ours is made up of the flags of the world.

The 17^th May 2011 I had my very last IB exam – 3 months later I sat with my printed, water-marked, hologrammed International Baccalaureate Diploma. It marked the end of my three years at Nørre Gymnasium in greater Copenhagen, Denmark, the latter two of which I was enrolled in the IBDP.

I am a native Dane, and I love my home country; but I wish, and wished, to also be a native world citizen. Even with the internet and global social networking, the diversity of cultures and mindsets which exists on our planet, or merely within my IB class, is mind-boggling – and worth exploring. My first experience of being in an international environment was when I, 11 years old, went with 3 other kids and young leader to Thailand to spend a month at an international summer camp, arranged by the organisation CISV. It was an amazing experience; tough at times, but living in a ‘village’ with children from 12 different countries ranging from Canada over the Philippines to Mongolia gave me a perspective on the world which I wouldn’t have missed for anything.

Coming home, I finished my basic education at a Danish school; it became time to choose my high school [= gymnasium], and when I unwittingly wandered into an IBDP presentation while visiting Nørre G, the basic idea of it rang a bell. An academically challenging programme where I could learn alongside people of all nationalities, improve my English and have a good starting point for going to university anywhere in the world seemed like just the right thing for me to do.

In my experience, there is a strong sense of community to IBDP students – we are united in our suffering. After graduating, it can go one of two ways; you either loathe the organisation for all eternity, or you gradually manage to forget the late nights doing homework and the stress of exams, instead remembering the good friends you made and appreciating how that prize at the end of the marathon, the Diploma, was an important step on the ladder to reaching your goals. I believe I fall in the latter category – already, it seems a bit ridiculous to me how much we whined about our workload (denial, I’m sure.)

Choosing my IB subjects, I was very happy that I was not required to choose a very specific ‘direction’; my interests span a broad spectrum, and I wanted my subjects to do the same. I took Economics, Mathematics and English A1 as my higher level subjects, and Chemistry, Danish A1 and History at standard level.

I wrote my Extended Essay in Economics, choosing a topic I knew I could engage in: Why does Vogue UK cost £12 in Denmark, when the cover price says £4.10? I looked at the monopoly status of the Scandinavian importer, the impact of taxes and the varying countries’ Purchasing Power Parities – and ended up having a lot of fun with it. “Fun”, you’re thinking, and yes, that might not be most people’s definition of fun. But then, that’s why I think I might be able to do economics at university as well.

I ended up doing a lot of extracurricular activities which counted for CAS – surpassing the 150 hours by quite a bit. I tutored middle-school children at my local library, was a member of the ATU (an ‘academy’ for academically gifted students) for whom I helped arrange our study trip to London, founded and chaired our school’s Model United Nations club and spent the whole winter in my final year being assistant director and head of costumes for our school play, Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

Especially putting on the play meant I had many other things than school on my mind for quite a long time – possibly not the best idea three months before exams – but it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had, and I’m pretty sure it contributed greatly to my staying sane in the last half year of IB. It seems impossible to fit those 150 hours into your schedule, but when you’ve found something you’re engaged in staying busy can actually be a really good feeling.

So now I’m sitting in my kitchen in Scotland, a newly matriculated Economics & Management student at the University of St. Andrews. I’m already a member of several societies, have been attending career events to explore the internship possibilities for first years, and am the producer of Euripides’ ‘Medea’, bound to go up in the drama society’s own theatre come December. The Nørre G preIB and IBDP made up the best three years in my academic career so far, and I will always remember them fondly.

- --- -

By the way, being a world citizen does not mean I do not suffer from the usual nationalistic expat-syndrome; being in the UK, hanging this on my wall was a must:

Arriving at the end of the tunnel

2011-07-07T00:17:00.001+02:00

The last couple of weeks have been kind of a mixed experience. A little under three weeks ago I broke my foot while out dancing, which means I've been wearing a caste and walking around on crutches for a while.. We finally had our graduation ceremony, and I got my studenterhue (grad cap) which is a Danish tradition - you normally get it right after your last exam, but we waited more than a month, which meant we didn't quite feel like graduates yet. A few days after that, we went on the obligatory truck ride around greater Copenhagen, visiting the homes of many of our class mates, consuming a remarkable amount of alcohol in the process. But more than that, the point is that you spend a whole day (12 hours in our case) celebrating, standing in the truck screaming, and people wave at you, yell congrats, the cars honk when they pass, and everybody smiles at you. As a friend of mine said: "It makes you feel like a rock star!!". And it did, and I loved going around celebrating. But it was also tough for me, quite an ordeal really, because I had to move around on one leg and crutches - I was proud I made it, but my leg ended up cramping pretty badly towards the end, and it did take some of the enjoyment out of the whole experience, especially since I simply couldn't make it to the centre of Kongens Nytorv for the final dance around the Rytterstatue.

On top of that, we this weekend had massive rain in Copenhagen, which resulted in a flooding of our basement - 25 cm water everywhere. Now, it so happens that my room is in the basement - and although none of my vintage clothes were harmed, my prom dress, several pairs of shoes, my CISV stuff from when I was 11 and all my pre- and middle school books were soaked through; I've been spending days trying to save them. Also, I'll have to get a new wardrobe, new bookcases, a new table and a new bed.

Finally, I've been worried sick about my exam grades; I needed 38 points on my IB Diploma to get into University of St Andrews, and I felt very unsure as to whether I had managed that. Laying out the worst case scenario, I could go as low as 34 points - still a fine grade, I know, but very far from what I expect of myself. Also, it would mean that I most likely wouldn't be going abroad at all, and that the university I would end up at in Denmark would be far from my first choice, because the translation between IB and Danish grades is so ridiculous. So yeah, I've been in kind of a bad mood lately.

But, as the title of this post indicates, I am not only seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but have pretty much arrived at it. In just over a week, I will be able to walk properly again; I was allowed to start my job later and didn't, as I'd feared, lose it over my foot; I managed to publish my class' blue book today (which I've also been stressing about), and was actually happy with the result. And finally, and most importantly, the IB exam grades were published today, and I managed to in all my subjects achieve my best-case scenario grade, even surpassing it in one case - totalling 42 points which is even more than I was predicted. And *poof* - gone was my stress and anxiety, and I can now simply be proud of myself and excited to be going to St Andrews! Even if one of the two friends I was hoping to bring with me didn't make it, she'll still be rather close by - so it is not the end of the world.

So: University of St. Andrews, here I come!!!

CNN's Quest to Cph

2011-07-03T20:00:00.019+02:00

Throughout June, the CNN has been promoting Copenhagen through the 'Future Cities' part of Richard Quest's show Quest Means Business on mondays. I'd like to point out that the norm is one city, one show, but our capital has been on Future Cities for a total of 4 weeks ^^
I really like Richard Quest's programmes in general - although I usually watch BBC News, I like to watch Quest Means Business (airs mon-fri 20:00 CET); perhaps it's because he's actually British. I am a bit of an anglophile, I know.

When the CNN team was in Copenhagen to shoot the programmes, I read an interview with him on the topic. First of all, he said that we Danes should stop going berserk whenever someone remotely famous comes visiting; Copenhagen is a cool city, everybody knows that. Well obviously ;)
Oh, and he promised not to 'pull an Oprah' by walking around screaming 'OH MY GOD BLONDE PEOPLE' and 'OH MY GOD NO HOMELESS PEOPLE DYING IN THE STREETS', which also appealed to me.

For those of you who didn't catch the shows as they aired, you can watch them below:

'Copenhagenization' in the Danish Capital

7th June 2011

A Carbon Neutral Copenhagen by 2025?

13th June 2011

Hedonistic Sustainability in Copenhagen

20th June 2011

Renovating a Palace in Copenhagen

27th June 2011

Much Ado About Nothing in London

2011-07-02T16:56:00.002+02:00

Now, I haven't made a blog post in around a month - which also means I never got around to reviewing the performance of 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Wyndham's Theatre in London, which was the main purpose of my day-trip to London. I think I fell into some kind of post-IB pit, where I really needed to just do absolutely nothing for a while; and even though I love writing this blog, it also felt like a bit of an obligation, because I felt I needed to post regularly. Now, I'm getting back into gear - first of all, doing nothing gets boring after a while, secondly I start working in a couple of weeks, and thirdly I have tons of stuff I need to figure out before I (hopefully) leave for St Andrews mid-September. Oh, and our grades are published next Wednesday, so I guess I'm also just a bit too restless to not be doing anything. It freaks me out!!

But back to my visit to London. It was one of the best trips I've ever been on!!, even if it was not very long - I had a marvellous travel companion, and when she hopefully joins me at St Andrews in the autumn we'll have to make theatre-day trips to London a regular thing. We went to the same pub for the two nights we were there (I really love Strongbow cider - not like the sweet stuff you can get in DK), we bought loads of books (including a V&A hat anthology and a 1959 self-help book called 'The Art of being a Well Dressed Wife'), and I got a gorgeous three-strand pearl necklace with a silver clasp at Alfies Antique Market. The McQueen dresses we saw at Harvey Nichols were amazing, and the afternoon tea at Harrods just how I imagined (well, better, really); the champagne was delicious, a waiter came to pour us more tea and ask if we wanted more of anything every 5 minutes (we didn't really - there was so much food we couldn't eat it all in the first place), and the Terrace Bar in itself is a quite beautiful place.

We stayed at Harrods for so long we ended up having to rush home to get changed, and run to the theatre - we made it in 2 minutes before the play commenced. Our seats were great, we sat near the middle of 5th row stalls (and with a rather insubstantial price difference between the two seating-categories, I don't see how it would make sense to go for the cheaper option). Evidently, we were not the only ones there who were David Tennant fans - several girls sitting along the wall were wearing identical Superman T-shirts, which turned out to be of the kind worn by Tennant in the play, when he as Benedick listens in on his friends talking about how in love with him Beatrice is.

Overall, the play was fantastic. I hadn't read it before we went, but the change of setting from medieval Padua to 1980's Gibraltar didn't really bother me - rather, it meant all the guys were wearing crisp white navy outfits, which can only be a plus.
The story is basically two interwoven love stories; Hero and Claudio are young lovers, who are to be married - Benedick and Beatrice mutually loathe each other, and both swear that they shall never marry. But when their friends devise a plot wherein each overhears a discussion on the other's being madly in love with them, they of course discover that they requite it. The story's villain interferes with the young engaged couple, making Claudio believe that Hero was unfaithful to him the night before their wedding; he 'exposes' her at the wedding ceremony, and Beatrice asks Benedick (who has sworn to do anything for her) to kill his friend Claudio. A Romeo & Juliette-esque scam ensues, where they pretend Hero has died of sorrow, and as her innocence is discovered Claudio falls into despair; but as the play is a comedy, we of course get our happy ending.

One of the play's themes explores gender roles; the old idea of a female falling into one of two categories, Madonna or Whore, is shown in Hero and Claudio's relationship (the Madonna-Whore complex is attributed to Freud, but it seems Shakespeare beat him to it). Claudio idolises Hero, but all too readily believes she would deceive him; he doesn't even seek an explanation, but takes revenge by exposing her publicly. Beatrice and Benedick have a more healthy relationship in that sense - they are more than aware of each other's faults, but love in spite (and because?) of them. I'd like to think that the latter were the more modern couple, but we still have some issues suggesting otherwise.. it is generally less socially accepted for a woman than a man to be casual about sex - luckily, that seems to be changing.

Not surprisingly, I think Tennant was genious in this production. He is absolutely endearing as he, utterly tonedeaf and with no apparent aptitude for rhyming, waiting for Beatrice tries to compose a love song with the help of a toy keyboard. Also, the scene where he listens in on his friends is one of the most hilarious ones I've seen in a long time - the walls are being 'painted' at the time, and in his distraction Benedick places his hand in a paint bucket; Tennant's impressive timing, his ability to look so utterly astonished and his gradually being covered in white paint (as he of course keeps barging into the paint buckets) makes for stomach cramp-causing laughter.
I'm afraid, though, that the corresponding scene with Beatrice is not nearly as funny. It's still rather funny, but in general Catherine Tate doesn't really live up to Tennant's comical talent -- she doesn't manage to make her character quite as believable, and sometimes it seems Beatrice is nothing but a bunch of grimaces. That's a bit harsh I guess, and it's not that I don't find Tate a good actress; but the problem is, working with Tennant, she is a bit overshined.

One actor worthty of mention, though, is the production's Claudio, played by Tom Bateman. He was apparently fresh out of drama school when he landed this part, but he seems to easily match his more seasoned fellow actors. Josie Rourke (the director) has put in a 'new' scene in the play, where Claudio, after hearing of Hero's innocence and death, spends the night at the church - drinking his brains out, and ultimately almost shooting his brains out (saved by a 'vision' of Hero). This scene, as well as the animal-like anger and desparation he shows when he 'sees' Hero (really her maid) with another man after her hen party, was very impressive and deeply moving to me. I must confess, I cried a bit. So kudos to Tom Bateman - I'll look forward to seeing more of him.

I must confess, I'm still a bigger fan of Tennant in Hamlet than Much Ado About Nothing - Hamlet remains my favourite play, and the general cast of that production was more impressive. But I by no means regret going to London to watch this comedy - it was a great, great trip, I liked the play very much, and in general it is just nice to be able to watch a play in English. And as I said - we plan to make a habit of it.

There's No Place Like London

2011-05-29T13:12:00.002+02:00

In just five days, I will be walking the streets of London! I'm going with a good friend from next Thursday evening to Saturday morning, which gives us a full Friday to enjoy the city. We'll be staying nice and central, right by Piccadilly Circus, which means most of the stuff we'll be doing is within walking distance - and means we'll have time to get home and change before we're off to the theatre.

The plan so far is to start the day off with book shopping in the huge Waterstone's right where we live; I went there last time I was in London as well, and bought a copy of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as well as Dita von Teese's Burlesque and the Art of the Teese. I love Dita von Teese's style, and that she's been able to revive a more aesthetic, less vulgar form of strip tease - where it's really more art than anything else. I have yet to actually see a burlesque show, but I will one of these days -- I must admit I imagine it sort of like being on the set of Cabaret. I hope I'll find more great fashion books this time around, I've soon filled a shelf with them, but I'm missing some on shoes. And possibly one on McQueen. And whatever else I haven't thought of yet.

This and the picture to the left are
photos I took of some of Polly
Morgan's pieces exhibited in the
summer 2010

Following the book shopping, we'll go to the gallery The Haunch of Venison, which I briefly mentioned in a past post. I am hoping the experience will be as great as last time I went - back then I was slightly put off by looking at their homepage, but decided to go anyway and did not regret doing so. One of the artists they were showing a couple of works by was Polly Morgan; I even bought a book about her work, named Psychopomps.

After that, we've planned to go vintage shopping at Alfie's Antique Market - an indoor market in Marylebone. I found it when searching the web for vintage shops in London last time I went, where I came up with a place called The Girl Can't Help It; I hadn't the time to go during my previous visits, but this time around I will.

We also plan to visit the small Beyond Retro in Soho; there I bought a beautiful opera coat in black moire with red silk lining, from the 1950s I'd guess, last time I was in London. We sort of happened upon it, because it is situated right next to a really nice Korean restaurant named RAN, where I went with some people (including the friend I'm going to London with this time around) during our studytrip to London last spring. We might go there to have dinner again, but that is not quite decided.

Now, we're arriving to the two main reasons for the trip. I e-mailed Harvey Nichols at Knightsbridge to ask how long they would exhibit the McQueen garments in their windows; it said until the end of May on their homepage, and I would be so sad if I didn't catch it. Whether it was my email or they'd decided upon it already I do not now, but after some days I got the reply that 'they could confirm' the exhibition would stay in place until the middle of June! So of course we will be going to Harvey Nichols.

When our noses begin to feel sore from being pressed against the glass too long, we'll move on to Harrods to have afternoon tea at the Terrace Bar, with scones, cucumber sandwiches and a flute of champagne. I haven't ever tried proper afternoon tea (although I have had scones with clotted cream once), so I can't wait.

And then, finally, we'll go home to the hotel to change into heels and drop off a day's worth of shopping bags, and set off towards Wyndham's Theatre. We'll collect our tickets and go watch Much Ado About Nothing with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I can't wait to watch a Shakespeare play in proper English (not that easy in Denmark - except of course for our amazing A Midsummer Night's Dream), with great actors, with a friend who's just as crazy about both Shakespeare and David Tennant as I am :)

We'll probably go eat dinner after the play, and then find some pub where we can hang out until the small hours, and then go to the hotel and pack; our train from London to the airport leaves at ten past five in the morning, so it'll really be no use going to bed. I'm so excited!!!

Waterstone's Piccadilly

203/206 Piccadilly
London W1J 9HD

Open: mon-sat 9-22; sun 11.30-18

Haunch of Venison

6 Burlington Gardens

London W1S 3ET

Open: mon-fri 10-18; sat-sun closed (free admission)

Alfies Antique Market

13-25 Church Street

London NW8 8DT

Open: tue-sat 10-18; sun-mon closed

Beyond Retro

58-59 Great Marlborough Street (in the cellar)

London W1F 7JY

Open: mon-wed 10.30-19.30; thu-fri 10.30-20.30; sat 10.30-19.30; sun 12-18

Ran Restaurant (horrible website, nice restaurant)

58-59 Great Marlborough Street
London W1F 7JF

Open: mon-sat 12-15 & 18-23; sun 18-23

Harvey Nichols

109-125 Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7RJ

Open: mon-sat 10-20; sun 11.30-18

Harrods

87-135 Brompton Road

Knightsbridge

London SW1X 7XL

Open: mon-sat 10-20; sun 11.30-18

Wyndham's Theatre

32-36 Charing Cross Road

Leicester Square

London WC2H 0DA

Celebrations & A Vintage Tip

2011-05-17T17:30:00.000+02:00

First: A Vintage Tip
Saw this dress in the Kirkens Korshær second hand and vintage shop at Frederiksberg metro station today (the corner of Falkoner Allé and Nyelandsvej). It looks like a sz 36, so too small for me, but at 175 dkkr it's a bargain - it looks like it's from the 1960's, and the lace detailing is really nice - the picture doesn't really do it justice, but I'm stuck with the camera in my old Nokia :)

Now: The Actual Post

Today I have finished my last IB exam!! Technically I don't know if I've passed yet, but I am countining on it ^^ I am perhaps slightly more worried about making it to the 38 points I need to go to St. Andrews, but my fingers will be crossed all the way until 6th of July, which is when I'll get my results :)

Those kind of pessimistic thoughts shall however not keep me from celebrating :D had a glass of Asti after we finished the 2-hour long economics exam, as someone had been clever enough to bring some along.

Then two friends and I went in to the city to have cake at La Glace, which is sort of a tradition of ours whenever we go on holiday. (Lin & Lisa: We'll go there with you when you A: Are home and B: Are done with your exams). La Glace is founded in 1870 and is the oldest confectioner's shop (konditori) in Copenhagen; they have some of the best cakes in the city (which happen to also be some of the most expensive). Today I had a piece of 'Det Gyldne Tårn', The Golden Tower, named after one of the rides in Copenhagen's Tivoli. It was really yummy, but my favourite remains 'Karen Blixen' which is a cake with coffee and a bit of chocolate, named after the famous Danish writer who for 17 years lived on a coffee farm in Kenya. My mum's favourite is the 'Sportskage' which is their signature cake - not named 'Sports cake' because it is particularly healthy (by no means), but because it was created for a theatrical premiere of the play "Sports Man" in 1891. With nougat in whipped cream decorated with caramelized choux pastry on a bottom of macaroon it is quite heavy duty - but I think it's one of the best looking cakes in their assortment (and it of course tastes good too).

Det Gyldne Tårn Karen Blixen Sports Cake

Picture of the front part of Les Trois Cochons

Tonight, I am going out to eat with my family at Le Trois Cochons - the little three pigs. It is one of my favourite places, although I can't afford to go there very often. First of all the food is good - it is variations over French cuisine. It is a part of the restaurant group cofoco, short for simply Copenhagen Food Consulting, which also runs another of my favourite restaurants Scarpetta, which serves Italian food. Les Trois Cochons runs with a set menu where you can choose one of 3-4 main dishes but where both appetizers and dessert are 'what the chef feels like serving' - nice to not have to make so many choices, and it means you don't just go for the safe stuff on the menu, but have new culinary experiences. Besides, they have the most divine rye bread (yes, as a Dane, that is something I appreciate). Secondly, their decór is really nice; the restaurant's in an old butcher's shop, and they've kept the old tiles and meat hooks, but added crystal chandeliers and wine cupboards - preserving the history of the place, making it a good-looking restaurant but containing the contrasts I love so much.

Afterwards I'll probably see if I can find some of my classmates somewhere in the city, out celebrating !

only I can't stay up too late, have to be fresh for my job interview tomorrow :)

La Glace

Skoubogade 3

1158 Copenhagen K

Open: mon-thu 8.30-17.30; fri 8.30-18; sat 9-17; sun 10-17 (closed on sundays April-September)

Le Trois Cochons

Værnedamsvej 10

1619 Copenhagen V

Open: mon-sat 12-14.30 (lunch); mon-sun 17.30-24 (dinner, kitchen closes 22, sunday 21)

Analogue Blogging & When you wish upon a star

2011-05-14T13:57:00.010+02:00

This week I've probably been more stressed than I've ever been before: I had 8 exams in 5 different subjects during 4 days. So when I got home from my last history exam, I collapsed on the sofa in our garden-facing room where I could see our 90-year old apple tree blossoming. I fetched a blanket, a pillow, Thursday's newspapers and my May issue of British Vogue which I hadn't had the time to look at yet - and sitting snugly I read both newspapers and Vogue from cover to cover. I can strongly recommend this to anyone in desperate need of tranquility.

At night, I wanted to write a blog post - felt a bit guilty for not posting anything the whole week. And guess what: Blogger was down! And remained so until sometime Friday evening. Very annoying. Instead, I resorted to some analogue blogging; I cut out stuff I liked from my Vogue and posted it to my beloved Moleskine notebook. I had space in between the poems I learned by heart for my English exam - had planned to write notes for them, never got around to actually doing it. Reading through the magazine reminded me why seeing the editorials online just can't compare; especially since not all of them make it to for example fashiongonerouge.com.

Out of the four editorials in Vogue, 2 of them were some of the best I think I've ever seen; 'White Mischief' with Agyness Deyn by Tim Walker:

and 'Forget Me Not' with Hannah Holman by Tim Gutt and set design by Shona Heath (who also did the 'Star Signs' set design in the December 2010 issue; those who have been in the Nørre G drama room will recognize those pictures as some those I decorated the walls with). The shoot was themed around the customary gifts for different anniversaries (17th = Furniture, 20th = China, etc.):

And by the way: I felt like humming 'When you wish upon a star' yesterday; some of the McQueen garments meant for the 'Savage Beauty' exhibition at the Met got caught in customs, and weren't allowed to enter the USA. Which means: They are displayed in the windows of Harvey Nichols at Knightsbridge until the end of May !!!!!!!

I've been talking to a friend about going to London for a couple of days sometime during the summer, to watch David Tennant in 'Much Ado About Nothing' at Wyndham's Theatre. We both loved him in Hamlet (although we only watched the movie), and would like to see him on stage - now, we're trying to find out if we have time to go sometime this month, so we can catch McQueen at Knightsbridge. And I also want to show her the fantastic gallery "The Haunch of Venison" which I visited by myself when I was in London last summer (my companions went to Abercrombie & Fitch across the street instead) - I'll write more about that some other time.

Alexander the Great conquers NY post mortem - and I'm not there to see it

2011-05-06T19:02:00.007+02:00

From McQueen's Fall '06 collection, shot by Steven
Meisel for Vogue US (from fashiongonerogue.com)

This summer, there is one place I'd really really like to go. Which is unfortunately not very realistic. See, I've never been to the US, and have always wanted to visit New York, but I am dying to go there particularly this year to see the posthumous McQueen exhibition at the Met, "Savage Beauty".

I've been a fan of McQueen pretty much ever since I became interested in fashion (which is quite a long time ago, really), and was very saddened when he passed away. In my last post I spoke of Damien Hirst, saying that what I liked about him was how he played with our concept of death, that his art was both beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Much the same is the reason for my admiration for Alexander McQueen; he also toyed with this theme, for example in the gown below from the Spring '07 collection, adorned with actual flowers, some of which fell of the dress as it went down the runway. It was an interesting comment on the eventual decay of beauty, I thought. Real flowers have always been more beutiful to me than the fake ones, even if they are of good quality, because the beauty of real flowers is passing, and will eventually wither away - which reminds us to appreciate it while it's there.

Look from the McQueen Spring '07 collection, featured in Vogue US in the story
"Alexander the Great", shot by Steven Meisel (from fashiongonerogue.com)

Also, most of McQueen's collections were very couture-like; even if his label didn't have a place in the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture, he made some of the most stunning, elaborate and exquisite garnments I can remember. But at the same time he retained an (in my mind) very British quirkiness along with a good deal of self-irony - notice the antlers which are a part of the look on the first picture in this post.

Alexander McQueen, Fall '10. Pictures from Style.com

The last collection he did himself was the Fall 2010 ready-to-wear; another gorgeous collection, and I guess he died at the height of his career - joining ranks with Marilyn Monroe and others. Still, I wish he'd gone more in the footsteps of Audrey Hepburn, pulling out of the business if he wasn't happy with it anymore, but living a long life anyhow.

The McQueen fashion house now has a new head of design, Sarah Burton, and so far I'm not too crazy about her designs, but she does of course have quite a legend to live up to. She did manage to make a rather nice wedding dress for the new Duchess of Cambridge, though ;)

Oh how I wish the Met could magically be transported to Copenhagen, or even just London, so I'd have the money to go see the exhibition!

Fog and Butterflies in the Ark

2011-05-02T09:24:00.011+02:00

The entrance to Arken - drawn by Søren Robert Lund, an at
the time only 25-year old architecture student. The letters
say "THE WEIGHT OF THE LIGHT / FROM ABOVE /
SENT TO REST / ON THE FOAM / FROM THE WAVES
ON THE SEA"

Yesterday, I went to the museum of modern art a bit outside Copenhagen called "Arken", meaning the Ark (as in Noah's Ark). It is by the sea in Ishøj, which is perhaps not the most obvious place to put such a museum (Ishøj is a less-well-off suburb to Copenhagen), but it was built as part of an admirable project of moving working class people out of the Copenhagen slum, by building a whole new part of the city - with a highschool, artificial beaches and a museum. There is a videoinstallation in one room with the area's history, where they explain for example how they fought to get a highschool; the plan was to build another one in Gentofte, which is one of the very well-off suburbs north of Copenhagen, because it had a higher concentration of educated parents. But instead of only looking at demand for education, local politicians were clever enough to consider supply as a creator of demand - if there was no highschool, chances of getting kids from un-educated homes to attend one were slimmer, and it would be difficult to attract educated families; and so the slum would really just be moved somewhere else. The same logic was applied to building the museum - and as I said, I find it an admirable deed (especially since it's a really good museum).

I went to Arken to see an exhibition by the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. He has made an installation called Your Blind Passenger (2010) as a part of an exhibition series at the museum called "Utopia"; it is a long tunnel filled with fog lit with different coloured lighting - you can see no further than a metre in any direction, which is an extremely odd (and slightly terrifying) sensation when you are used to relying so heavily on sight to make your way in the world. The video below might give you a sense of it:

Olafur Eliasson, Your Blind Passenger (2010)

Damien Hirst, For the Love
of God, The Diamond Skull
(2007)

Apart from Eliasson, some of my favourite things at the museum were the Damien Hirst works they have. Hirst has a way of dealing with our sense and perception of death in a way which is both beautiful and disturbing, something I highly appreciate. One of his best known works is perhaps the diamond-encrusted skull entitled For the Love of God (2007); Arken owns a silk print of this with crystals attached in place of the diamonds.

Together with this large silk print hang 6 other works by Hirst; 4 of them are collectively named The Elements (Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow, Green and Blue), (2005). They are big paintings in strong colours, with what first appears to be painted butterflies; moving closer, though, you realise that they are actual butterflies "caught" in the paint. From being a happy picture of butterflies and colours no one can be scared of, it becomes a butterfly death trap. Below are first the full-size pictures, then closeups I took yesterday.

Damien Hirst, Untitled
(Birthday Card), (2001)

Much the same theme is present in the two remaining pictures; the first is Untitled (Birthday Card), (2001), which is a great baby pink heart with butterflies (never mind the light reflection in the picture to the right, not a part of the work).

The second is a large black disc with some sort of framed 'structure'. You have to move really, really close and look at it for a while before you can see what it is; thousands, millions of flies held together by black paint. And you jump back, disgusted, immediately; before you knew what it was, you didn't mind being close to it, but when you do you have to convince yourself in a wholly different way before moving closer. This kind of art, which almost physically interacts with its viewer I think is very impressive.

Peter Holst Henckel, World of Butterflies (2002)

Lastly, I saw some things by artists I didn't know. One room had a whole wall filled with pictures of butterflies like the one to the left (reminded me of The Collector) - it took me a very long time to realize that they were not just butterflies. The work is entitled World of Butterflies (2002) and is by Danish artist Peter Holst Henckel - again, here is this mix of the brutal things in life (there were many of them with well-known press photos of starving children, guerilla soldiers etc.) and something beautiful and fragile, where it takes a while to realise that the former is even there.

Right before we went home, we browsed a bit in the museum shop; for my summer reading list I bought Fashion since 1900 by Valerie Mendes and Amy de la Haye. Looking forward to reading it :)

Now, back to studying for exams. My first one is English, tomorrow! Before that, though, I'm planning on getting my driver's licence today around 1.30 p.m., GMT+01. Wish me luck :)

Arken Museum of Modern Art

Skovvej 100

2635 Ishøj

Open: mon closed; tue 10-17; wed 10-21; thu-sun 10-17

Grand Teatret, ChiliMili & some casual shopping

2011-04-25T16:41:00.003+02:00

Saturday was my day off from studying - I went shopping with my little sister in the day and went to see a movie at Grand Teatret with a friend at night, finishing off with late dinner at Chilimili :)

I love going shopping for other people; just as I spend ages picking out the perfect gifts for friends and family, I like to help in finding clothes which both look good on that specific person, fit their style and are fashionable at the same time - especially when it is a challenge. I think no one appreciates that more than my sister; saturday she exclaimed that she would have to limit her aquiring of new clothes the next years to when I'll be home on Christmas and summer break (but - I'm not sure she'll keep that promise until she's 15).

Deena & Ozzy oxfords, copper and silver nail varnish from Urban Outfitters
and a bow hairclip from Monki

As it often is, when shopping with other people you happen upon things which you feel are must-haves - or at least would be really really nice to have (must-have is such an overused term). And so did I this saturday - in Urban outfitters I found two kinds of metallic nail varnish at 70 dkkr each (been wearing the silver one, it's really pretty) plus a pair of oxford shoes which were just too cool not to buy. They're in black suede, clear pvc and silverish-gold on the tips, by a brand I'm unfamiliar with, Deena & Ozzy; they're practically customizable since you can change their appearance so much based on which socks you wear ^^ The brand seems quite cool too - I googled it, and I liked many of the shoes which popped up. Lastly, I bought a dark pink/purple triple bow hairclip from Monki - put it in my hair as soon as I'd paid for it :)

After having dropped off the shopping bags (mine and my sisters's) at home, I met up with a friend to go watch "The King's Speech" at Grand Teatret (yes, it has taken me long enough). Grand is without doubt my favourite cinema in Copenhagen; they stick to grown-up movies, and often ones which appeal to a narrower audience (they have 'French movie monday' for example) - in other words, don't go if you want to see "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Tangled" or "Meet the Fockers". But I watched "The Black Swan" there not too long ago with some of the actors from our play, and I can't wait to see "Mao's Last Dancer" there. It seems much less commercial than most of the other cinemas, and especially the main theatre is a beautiful old room (Sal 1), just as a movie theatre ought to be. They sell coffee, small bags of candy and cake, soda is available only in the old-fashioned glass bottles - no super-size me as most other places, where a medium soda is 3/4(!) litres. Sorry, this isn't to nag about the moral delapidation of modern cinemas - Grand Teatret is just something special :)

(The King's Speech is a great movie by the way - but you don't need me to tell you that.)

After the movie, we went to Chilimili by Rådhuspladsen for a late dinner. They have really yummy, healthy food, and between 9 and 10 p.m. they have half price on all food and beverages (not sure if that's a permanent thing; anyway, otherwise there's the 20% discount for students). Their concept is that you take your pick of a couple different dishes between all the stuff they have lined up such as pasta salads, humus etc (lots of vegetarian food too), have it in a wrap or sandwich, or you buy either their 'soup of the day' or 'hot dish of the day'. Very good value for money (although the space is very attempted-hip cafeteria-ish; but never mind that) especially with the half price offer; otherwise, you can eat a small portion for 35 dkkr (without student discount), and e.g. the hot dish is 69 dkkr. In Denmark, it doesn't get much cheaper if you want to avoid junk food :)

Grand Teatret

Mikkel Bryggers Gade 8 (a side street to Strøget at the City Hall Square-end)

1460 København K

Chili Mili Rådhuspladsen

H. C. Andersens Boulevard 12

1553 København

Open: mon-sun 10-22

Grass & Cherry blossoms, Glass & Steel

2011-04-21T14:05:00.009+02:00

I have decided that I would like to write about some of my favourite places in Copenhagen - as inspiration to natives and visitors alike :) I had the idea yesterday when I was spending the afternoon with my family, going around to different places in the city as the thoughts occured to us.

Kongens Have yesterday

The cherry trees are blossoming now

The first place we went was Kongens Have, 'The King's Garden', which is a big park in central Copenhagen situated around Rosenborg Castle. When the weather's nice there are always lots of people relaxing on the grass, going for walk, playing football or petanque or taking their kids to the playground. Denmark might not have the nicest weather in the world, but that just means that whenever the sun comes out, Copenhageners flock to parks and plazas to drink cold beer and get some sun - even if it after most people's standards is still freakin cold.

One thing which makes Kongens Have particularly nice right now is that the cherry trees are blossoming -- and since the weather ought to hold for the duration of the easter break, everybody who can should take a trip to the park. If you're studying for exams, you can always take your books with you :)

After we'd been in the park and had gotten a bit to eat, we went to Amager to see one of my favourite buildings in the Copenhagen area (one of the few new buildings I really like), 8-tallet (≈ "The number 8"). As you can see to the right, they aren't quite done yet, but already it is an astonishing building. Seen from above, it is constructed as an 8 - a far more interesting shape than the usual glass-and-steel boxes. They have done a lot to create life in and around the building, with shops and a (quite good) café in one corner; I read in an interview with the architect that he'd wanted to make the building resemble a mountain village - this has resulted in multi-level apartments, small 'gardens' for many of them, and an invitation for people to hike to the top, up the many stairs. I did so already last summer, and the view is beautiful on both 'sides' of the building, both the one looking out over 'Fælleden' and the one looking into the inner side of the 8.

8-tallet as it will end up looking. At the bottom here is Café 8-tallet; I've walked to the top on the 'hill' to the right.

You really don't have to be an architecture-enthusiast to appreciate the beauty of this building. And it makes for a good afternoon trip; just take the metro to Vestamager station, take a walk up and and around 8-tallet, and finish up with a nice cup of coffee or brunch/lunch/dinner in Café 8-tallet.

EDIT: The left staircase is closed for non-residents; I am not certain whether the right staircase will be closed when all the apartments adjacent to it are sold. So if you want to go, it might be a good idea to do so rather soon. Otherwise, there are details on how to arrange a guided tour on the 8-tallet homepage.

Extra: Bjarke Ingels, founder of BIG showing some of the group's other buildings on CNN:

Kongens Have

Øster Voldgade 4B (not too far from Nørreport station)

1350 København K

Open: January 07-17; February 07-18; March 07-19; April 07-21; May-August 07-22; September 07-21; October 07-19; November 07-18; December 07-17.

8-tallet

Richard Mortensens Vej (by Vestamager metro station)

2300 København S

Open: Always, but Café: mon-fri 11-21; sat-sun 10-21 (these are kitchen opening hours; the actual café is open a few hours longer for you to finish your food or just have a beer or coffee. Kitchen is closed every day 16.30-17.30)

Shopping for Japan

2011-04-19T12:30:00.003+02:00

When disaster strikes, we all want to help - and the earthquake, tsunami and still developing nuclear issue in Japan made quite an impact on me. In general, I feel like we're seeing more and more natural disasters, but this one was somehow different; perhaps it is because it struck in what we consider a highly developed society, which has available to it all precautionary measures so far invented by human kind. Of course, the fact that at least the tsunami made for such good TV, unlike an earthquake (as in Haiti) where you can only show the impact it has had on buildings etc., probably made a difference too; and there is always the Biblical references to The Flood to people in Western societies.

Aid poster from des!gn think!ng*

As always, all kinds of relief efforts are going on around the world - you can either give money directly, or buy products which 'donate all profits to aid Japan' (now, as I am planning to study economics I am tempted to ask: Including normal profits?, but that is besides the point). I know it is (aside from actually helping the Japanese) a PR stunt by the companies, and that it is meant to make me want to buy their products more because I can rationalise my way into it ("Well, the money's for a good cause!") - still... Win-Win situation?

AMBUSH Koppel pendant watch in red
limited edition (500) from Georg Jensen

Today I got a newsletter from Danish silverware- and jewellery brand Georg Jensen, saying they had made a limited edition of one of their watch pendants. And I want it soooo bad!! Isn't it pretty? I hate being on a student budget at times like this - it costs €630.

"For Them" by Technique Indiscréte

One thing which is perhaps slightly more affordable is a limited edition perfume from Parisian 'Technique Indiscréte', made with notes of lavender. It is also a limited edition, but with 1000 available bottles - and is sold at €35 plus shipping (=€45 to Denmark). Another thing I wouldn't mind owning.

It occurs to me that a lot of the aid-products I've seen in relation to Japan have been these quite expensive, exclusive kinds of products. Perhaps it is a result of Japan being a more developed country - we have other connotations to it? Or perhaps the Japanese flag simply invites to those kinds of products.. the red circle is very easy to incorporate in a simplistic way, without it screaming "I HAVE DONATED FOR JAPAN!" - the Georg Jensen watch for example would be beautiful also without one knowing the money went to a good cause. Finally, the companies which can make these kinds of products as believable PR-stunts are probably the ones which have some kind of affiliation with Japan, if only through aesthetic principles - and simplisticness is often a high-end thing.

So... I know I'm being manipulated, and that I ought to just donate without there having to be something in it for me. Still, as I wrote above - win-win situation?

Post-IB plans (now with macarons)

2011-04-18T15:26:00.001+02:00

My friend Em has a post-IB reading list on her blog; it is probably a good idea to have some idea of what to.. otherwise the shock of free time might become too much ;) Anyway, I've been thinking more generally of what I'll do when exams are over and done with; I'm thinking it's a good way to stay sane with exam-nerves and what not (the best I've found so far aside from driving through sunny Copenhagen in my driving instructor's convertible ^^ ).

Some of the stuff I'll do is of the practical kind; I'll hopefully get the job at SOS (I'm going for an interview sometime within the next couple of weeks btw), so I'll be working. I'll also be preparing to leave Copenhagen for University of St. Andrews, Scotland, with all the practicalities that entails - stressing over exam results in the process, as I won't have those (and so not be 100% sure that I'm going) before 6th July. Already, though, I'm crazy excited to be going (and crazy scared) -- it even looks like a friend will be going there with me, so I won't be a complete loner ^^

Hopefully, Denmark will stay as nice and sunny as it is now - then beaches and reading in the garden is a tempting option. If not, I have a long standing plan to have a Harry Potter movie marathon with some good friends - and when summer holiday is upon us, those friends who live abroad will (hopefully) also be able to participate <3

Today, I remembered one more thing I plan to spend time on. I visited Jessica January's blog (thanks for the comment btw), and there found a video full of delicious french cakes (below) - which reminded me of my ambition to learn how to make macarons. I've tried once, and they tasted fine, but were not quite as sturdy as I'd liked them to have been. Hence, when I was in Oxford in the fall and found a recipe book on macarons it didn't take me long to buy it. I will probably have to work quite a bit to perfect the craft - people are welcome to visit and help get rid of failed attempts ;)

Poetry and then some thoughts on Religion

2011-04-15T15:04:00.001+02:00

Today, I've stayed home from school with a headache and throat pain. That shall not keep me from studying for exams, however - which are coming up in around two weeks. I might lay off the chemistry until sunday, though, and keep to English; getting on with the task of learning 12 poems of by heart so I can quote them in my paper.

I used to not be very fond of poetry; I'd grown sick of the 70's poems we read in Danish in my previous schools, and although I had seen a few I liked by the 1980's Danish poet Michael Strunge, flipping through his collected poems I wasn't convinced that the genre was for me. But, if you're lucky, that is one of the things school might help you overcome - and as with drama and prose, poetry in English seemed a whole new world for me. We read Sylvia Plath, Carol Ann Duffy, Pablo Neruda (translated, of course) and William Blake; I like the first two the best, I like Neruda's political poems, and a few of Blake's such as "The Garden of Love". The task I have set myself for today is to learn Carol Ann Duffy's "Confession" by heart:

Confession
Come away into this dark cell and tell

your sins to a hidden man your guardian angel

. works your conscience like a glove puppet It

smells in here doesn't it does it smell

like a coffin how would you know C'mon

out with them sins those little maggoty things

that wriggle in the soul... Bless me Father...

Just how bad have you been there's no water

in hell merely to think of a wrong's as evil

as doing it... For I have sinned... Penance

will cleanse you like a bar of good soap so

say the words into the musty gloom aye

on your knees let's hear that wee voice

recite transgression in the manner approved... Forgive me...

You do well to stammer A proper respect

for eternal damnation see the flicker

of your white hands clasping each other like

Hansel and Gretel in the big black wood

cross yourself Remember the vinegar and sponge

there's light on the other side of the door... Mother

of God... if you can only reach it Jesus loves you.

I like the feel of this poem, how the lack of punctuation gives the poem a very overwhelming, oppressive feeling, as if multiple voices are speaking at once.

I am atheist myself, so I don't have any experience of my own with the Catholic confession - but aside from being atheist because I don't believe in a God, I also dislike the set rules of many religions. My parents are Christian to some extent, pretty relaxed about it as most Danes are; but they have a picture in their room stating "God is Love" - and if you do believe in some sort of God, I think it makes sense to find him/her in the beautiful things in our lives, rather than in rules and rites. Otherwise, you might end up in a "thou shalt not"-religion, with the threatening feel portrayed in the poem. Without being a theologist, I have read parts of the Bible, and oppressiveness does not strike me to be the purpose of at least the New Testament. For really, shouldn't it be whether you actually repent your wrongdoings, rather than whether you can "recite transgression in the manner approved", that counts?

Décor

2011-04-12T09:42:00.003+02:00

Last week, I bought two AMAZING things in my favourite vintage shop, Décor. Sadly, I can't really post pictures or tell about them, as both are gifts. Still - they were amazing, just saying.

I first discovered this shop when I went to Zahles school from 7th to 9th grade, just across the plaza. I have spent many a recess treasure hunting in this fantastic little place - and it bears the main responsibility for my discovering the joys of vintage fashion. Recently, I have read about Décor several places, as on Cover.dk, and I have heard it referred to as the place every stylist considers her little secret. And indeed, I have often been there while the owner, Lone, was lending out some of her pieces for a shoot - such as a giant lace collar from the 1890s, which sadly is not for sale (some of the finest things she keeps herself, hanging them as decoration in the shop).

The clothes, jewellery, hats, shoes, perfumes in the shop is mainly from the end of the 19th century until the 1960s, with a few newer things. Some of my favourite items from Décor include a 1950s pearl necklace and a black hat from the same period - and at some point I'm gonna buy a top hat. As the pieces are mostly one of a kind, it of course often happens that something you find doesn't fit - but that just means you're that much happier when some gorgeous dress/hat/skirt actually fits nicely :)

Beautiful satin shoes from circa 1950

When I was there last week, I found 3 things I wished fit me and several things I wished I could afford; the satin shoes above are probably sz 37ish, which is a tad to small for me. I also found some amazing white full-length gloves (as in almost to your shoulder) in what I think was increadibly fine, soft leather - unfortunately, as most vintage gloves, they were way too small.. Finally, a 1890s cotton lace blouse in sz 34 I almost bought just to own it.

One thing I can always spend time drooling over is the several fur stolas in the shop; but I also found a gorgeous little wallet in hand-knit lace also from the end of the 19th century, which looked almost as good as new. But at 850 dkkr, it wouldn't leave much money for me to spend the rest of April - and it would mean my ambition to become better at saving would, at least for April, not come to much.

Décor Vintage

Rømersgade 9 (by Israels Plads, Nørreport station)

1362 Cph K

Open: tue-fri 12-18; sat 10-16; sun-mon closed.

Wicked

2011-04-10T19:26:00.003+02:00

The musical 'Wicked' has been the best selling musical worldwide since The Phantom of the Opera - this Friday, I watched it at Det Ny Teater in Copenhagen. The theatre had as the first theatre been allowed to make their own production, i.e. do costume- and set design themselves rather than have it dictated by the copyright owners (something which has so far not been allowed with Phantom of the Opera). It has received very good reviews in the Danish papers, around 5 out of 6 stars mostly - and it is a good musical.

Opening scene, Glinda greeting the people of Oz.

The opening scene had us worried about the vocal performances; Glinda (Anette Heick) starts of with a rather high-pitched number (picture above), and the actress had evidently not done her vocal warm-up thoroughly enough, as she missed a lot of the high notes and sounded generally very strained. Not the best start to a musical. Luckily, she steadily improved through the course of the story, and by the second act she did a decent job. The other main character Elphaba, played by Maria Lucia Heiberg Rosenberg, was a better singer by far, which also helped us to move on from the bad start. But none of the singers ever really managed to reach the level I've experienced in London - although they were quite good singers, a lot of the songs seem quite challenging, and it mostly sounded as if they just barely got there, a tinge of strain in their voices. I've posted some links to recordings of the Danish production and the Broadway production below - judge for yourselves :) Reading this through, it all sounds very negative - but my point is that it's a pity we don't really have any really good musical actors in Denmark, perhaps except Maria Lucia - and they are kind of a must for a musical like this one.

The Wizard of Oz and the history teacher Doctor
Dillamond (who happens to be a goat)

But a few things we do have: Brilliant musicians and set- and costume designers (or at least... we're good at importing them - Paul Farnsworth, an Englishman, was responsible for the two latter). As I haven't seen the original, I can't say how costumes and sets were compared to that, but I thought they were marvellous. The Ozzian costumes on the picture above I particularly liked - and in general, Farnsworth had managed to hit just the right combination of oddity and recognizable signals with his costumes. One of my favourites was the costume (and acting) of Doctor Dillamond, Elphaba and Glinda's goat university history professor (played by Kristian Boland), on the picture to the right.

You can see some of the costume drawings here.

One of the interesting things about the musical is that it turns the traditional "Wizard of Oz" story completely around - but in a way which fits into the original. The Wicked Witch of the West is in reality the good one, the only one who stands up for the animals which are made into scapegoats by the Wizard - banned from speaking, kept in cages. The wizard is turning Oz into an increasingly totalitarian society, and he wants Elphabas help to do it - which she refuses. Similarly, Glinda is a spoiled, selfish brat who only learns magic because Elphaba insists on it - because she thinks Glinda has helped her sister (when she in reality has simply used her to get rid of an unwanted admirer). The musical opened with a crowd cheering over the death of the Wicked Witch, singing "Alle hader ondskab" (translates to "Everybody hates evil"), which is what "no one mourns the wicked" has been translated to in Danish. This recurring phrase of course takes on another meaning as the 'true' story is unfolded, and it is one of the many criticisms of the use of scapegoats and fear of the unknown, utilised by those in power, which extends beyond Oz to our everyday lives.

Elphaba and Glinda singing "Jeg har forandret
mig" ("For Good" in English)

As always, I was slightly bothered by the English to Danish translation; and listening to the original songs here afterwards they are clearly better. But it was not as much as when I watched My Fair Lady - I haven't had the chance to watch Wicked in English. There were a couple of things I picked up on, but I think generally the translation seemed okay.

I guess when it comes to musical-music, I have my favourites: The soundtracks of Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Cabaret, West Side Story and My Fair Lady are all on the 'most played' list on my iPod. But I'm not sure the Wicked music will be - at least not the Danish. The songs were good, but they seemed to land somewhere in between The Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story - they had the ambition of becoming goose-bump-evoking songs, but few of them really made it; on the other side they were neither the kind of musical songs that you walk around singing for ages afterwards like those from West Side Story or Chicago, simply because they're too difficult. Too many canons were fired to begin with, and there is a limit to how many 'grand' songs you can cope with. I know I'm comparing this musical with some of the greatest classics of the genre, which is perhaps not fair - but on the other hand, that must be the aspiration. That said, Defying Gravity and For Good were really good songs (if a little too Disney-ish for my taste in musicals) - and I might even end up downloading the soundtrack at some point ^^

As I said in the beginning, Wicked at Det Ny Teater was a good musical. Alltogether I wouldn't say it was brilliant though - 4 out of 6 stars perhaps. Costumes and set design, along with the music was great - but I was a bit dissapointed with the singing, mainly in the beginning. I know Copenhagen is not London, and that we don't have as many good musical actors - but then we'll just have to make an effort to find them wherever they're hiding.

Jeg har forandret mig (Elphaba & Glinda) - and in English (For Good):

Mine vinger bær' (Elphaba) - English (Defying Gravity):

Populær (Glinda) - English (Popular):

Ta too or not ta too

2011-04-08T17:21:00.003+02:00

A while ago, I got this thought into my head: Wouldn't it be kind of nice to get a tattoo? They've always sort of fascinated me, especially the old-school pin-up ones etc - there's this makeup artist in MAC in Magasin du Nord with fantastic red hair and sailor-ish sleeves; her I kind of admire (I saw her often in the period where I worked there). But those wouldn't really fit me I think...

There are also those very 90s/gang member type ones, which are abstract but in all black with lots of pointy corners and stuff, which makes you look very agressive or at least as if you'd like to come off that way - not really my style either.

No, what entered my mind was what I've tried to make a collage of to the left; three strands of pearls with some kind of 'clasp' on each shoulder. I came up with some years ago, and I've actually done quite a bit of research to try and find someone with something similar - but so far without success. I've only found pearls as a part of a pirate-themed tattoo or the temporary Chanel tattoos as on the picture to the right (I by the way think I came up with the idea before I saw those - but I'm honestly not 100% sure). But what I think I want is still different - I don't want it quite so stylized as the Chanel ones, I want it to look more realistic.

But then comes the ever present questions: What if I don't like it? Won't it look stupid when I'm old and wrinkly?

Well, the last part doesn't worry me too much - I sure would think it was cool to have a tattooed grandma. But the first part sort of does; because it is permanent I need to be sure that I'll want to keep it - and judging by how dramatically I fell I (and my tastes) have changed in the past few years, I don't feel certain. It is a quite big tattoo, so even though covering it up with clothes wouldn't be too difficult, it's still different from a dolphin on the ankle.

Decisions, decisions. I want the tattoo, but I'm afraid I'll regret it in a couple of years - on the other hand I've thought about it for a while.. how long do I need?

(P.S.: Going to see Wicked at Det Ny Teater tonight - so expect a review within the next couple of days ^^)

Growing up is hard to do...

2011-04-07T13:26:00.002+02:00

Codie Young by Nicole Bentley for
Vogue Australia April 2011
(from fashiongonerogue.com)

I've always felt quite old of heart - at 12, I was sure I was as mature as I ever needed to be. And sure, I read newspapers every day when I was 11, went to Thailand for a month on a summercamp without my parents, and in many ways felt more at ease when talking to adults than people my own age - but of course, I was still a child. And once in a while the last couple of years, I've noticed just how much I've grown since last I checked; not measured by my political interest, my independence, since that's really always been there - no, by how much more comfortable I feel in my own skin.

Last week, I read through my personal statement from last autumn, when I was applying to British universities - realising how much I've grown. I wrote about aesthetics in business management, and even though the essence of what I wrote still holds, I would probably have expressed myself a bit differently if I'd written it now. Having received a bit more experience with the actual experience of 'management' when we did the play was a very important part of me growing since last fall - and if I'd written my PS now, I would probably have been able to write thing which were slightly less commonplace ..

I've never really idolised neither childhood nor youth - rather, I've always been busy growing up, annoyed whenever there was something I couldn't do because I was too young, unappreciative of the advantages that comes with the rest of the world regarding you as somewhat of a child. I spoke to a friend about this, and she told me her ideal age was 17 - old enough for people to respect your opinion, too young to have to deal with the full responsibilities of adulthood. For me, it was in a way opposite; ever since I was 5 or something, my ideal age was 19 years old; old enough to not be limited by age in any way (at least by the laws of Denmark), young enough to, well, still be young.

But recently, I've begun realising some stuff about childhood that I will miss - or at least that I'm perhaps not as busy growing up as I used to be. Today, I have a total of 10 school days left at Nørre G - then exams start, and then we'll be done. Although being finished is an exciting thought, it is also terrifying to move away from something you know is good - for what if what comes next somehow isn't as good? I guess this worries me especially since I'm hoping to move to St Andrews where I most likely won't know anyone - it wouldn't be as rapid a change if I stayed in Copenhagen. I also realised Monday that I've never actually contemplated not moving away from home - a classmate asked me a question about accomodation if you went to Copenhagen University, and I helped her figure it out. In the process, I saw some different student housing, and started looking them through, comparing location, prices etc - realising after 10 minutes that I could actually just keep living at home. Which scared me - that it hadn't entered my mind before. And suddenly, I felt like the whole process of growing up was happening just a bit too fast.

Fashion Gone Rogue

2011-04-04T15:42:00.006+02:00

Nimue Smit by Sebastian Kim for Numéro #122
(from fashiongonerogue.com)

One of my favourite places on the web is the blog Fashion Gone Rogue. There is posted mainly editorials from fashion magazines from all over the world, USA to China to Russia. I do read some magazines as well, but having found this blog means I don't have to buy Italian Vogue to see their amazing pictures - at 120 dkkr (≈$24), it feels like a bit of a waste to buy it when I don't understand any of the other contents of the magazine.

I like the idea, not only of accessing many of these pictures for free, but accessing them at all. I am not limited by my magazine-budget or by what they choose to sell in the Magasin du Nord magazine-department; and I gain access to the international fashion world, rather than merely what Western editors choose to show me. There is for example always a marked difference between Asian editorials (which again vary between countries) and e.g. Danish; even if the photographers might be the same, and the model European, the influence from the Japanese or Korean magazine makes the final result entirely different. And just as I enjoy the cultural diversity of my IB class, getting to either confirm or affirm prejudices on my own, I like to be able to get a truly international sense of fashion :)

And speaking of international - I shall now be off to my job interview at SOS International, which is a travel insurance company I will hopefully be working at this summer. Which means, if any of you get hurt while you're on holiday, I might just be the one arranging your flight home ^^

Art, Poetry, Spring shopping

2011-04-02T15:33:00.009+02:00

Last night, I had a long discussion about different kinds of creativity - and the different kinds of art produced by it. I really admire people who need nothing more than their own imagination to create beautiful and thought-provoking pieces - paintings, sculptures, music, litterature etc. I find, however, that I myself work better within some kind of 'frame'; as for example creating the costumes for A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play and characters are already there, and the creative process has the set task of somehow enhancing the audience's understanding of both - this I did by using different colour schemes in the different 'worlds' (fairies, lovers, mechanicals), and make variations within that to show the personality and function of the individual characters. It did once in a while lead to some silly situations, where I could hear myself forbid someone to wear red shoes or whatever, exclaiming "NO! You can't, that's Titania's colour!"- luckily, in the end, it worked out. But I'm not sure if I would be any good at designing clothes as haute couture designers etc do - because that you make completely from scratch, coming up with a vision, deciding what you'll be inspired by, all beginning with a blank piece of paper.

We also talked about poetry in this context - I've never written any just for myself, but my discussion partner seem to write a lot, and the ones I heard were beautiful. We did however not so long ago receive a task in our English class, where we were to write a poem based somehow on the movie Whale Rider; a task I actually ended up enjoying, although I wasn't completely crazy about the movie. I like to read poems with a rather complex structure and with a set rhythm, so I tried to create that. The title ended up simply being "Whale Rider":

Whale Rider

Waves breaking

Worlds shaking

Silently.

But tide life, tide death,

the tide rolls in most

Piously.

Silent weaping

Habit's reaping

Fruits of sons.

But the un-dead half

is greeted by the

Olden Ones.

It was fun to do, and there is some of the same litterature-puzzle to writing a poem like this as there is to reading Shakespeare, only reversed. Starting out with a couple of lines, then trying to build a structure and rhyme scheme around them, making sure you end up with something which actually makes sense can be a bit complicated - and fun. Not sure how easy the poem is to understand if you haven't watched the movie, though ^^

Spring has finally come to Denmark! And even if it's still a bit below 20 degrees celcius and quite windy, I have stubbornly (and once in a while shakingly) been sunbathing in my garden for the majority of the afternoon. But aside from the steadily improving weather, spring also means lots of new summer clothes to buy everywhere! So far, I have limited myself to a cottoncoat and a dress from H&M - plus a Rossi leather bag I found in Time's Up Vintage in Krystalgade yesterday (I have been searching for one I liked in which my computer could fit for 2 years now - have only found the Mulberry Bayswater, which for the moment is sadly a bit out of my price range). Finally, I bought the DVD of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky to save for some day when the Danish spring/summer does not show itself from its best side, and I need a break from studying :)

Buying beautiful things makes me happy :)

Postponing the Stolen Spring

2011-03-29T20:13:00.003+02:00

Spring is finally arriving to Denmark - and this year, with it comes IB exams and university-decisions. I'm still waiting for an answer from one of the universities I applied to in the UK, and it's driving me crazy.. You could probably say I'm the kind of person who likes to be in control, and not knowing even which country I'll be living in half a year from now is a bit unnerving!!

I've been missing doing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" terribly (pic left) - the costumes, the directing, the horrible busy-ness was way more fun than preparing for exams!

This week, I got a bit back into my theatre-state-of-mind, though; thursday, I went to Krudttønden with a friend to watch David Mamet's "Oleanna" (pic right), and saturday my family and I went to the Royal Danish Theatre to watch their production of "My Fair Lady". The play thursday was really, really good, and very intense; a two-character play, with a total of only three scenes, concerning a student who completely destroys a professor by accusing him of amongst other things sexual harrassment and elitism. We spent a lot of time discussing the play afterwards, and it was interesting how differently one might view the play depending on cultural standpoint. Accusing him of those things based on the actions we saw him perform would be ridiculous in a Danish context - but probably less so in for example the US, where the play was written.

My Fair Lady was also a really good production. Especially the sets and costumes were amazing, and the actors were also good. I did get a bit annoyed with the translation to Danish at some points - but a translated version is practically impossible to make as good as the original, I guess, because the language will always be a bit clumsy. Not surprisingly, Cockney-english can't really be translated because the dialect-variations in Danish are smaller than in English, but Eliza (Cecilie Steenspil) instead spoke a kind of 'ghetto'-Danish with a lot of misinterpreted 'sayings' such as "Jeg er ikke den der slipper en halv vind" and "Man kan ikke både blæse og have rent mel i posen" which were brilliant.

I especially adored the costumes and set of the Ascot scene; all females had elaborate headpieces relating to 'tea', such as teacups, saucers, trays with tea sets etc. It must be difficult to reinterpret costumes to a so iconic scene, but in my opinion they fell nothing short of the Audrey Hepburn movie-version.
One costume which didn't quite live up to the standards set by the rest were Eliza's ballgown - it was not a very flattering design for the actress, made her look all boxy, and all the flowy pieces of fabric made it look like a bundle of chiffon-rags - nothing like the simplistic Givenchy gown it's in my mind supposed to be.
Still, it was a visually beautiful production, which did a pretty good job of overcoming the language problems. The actors were good; it was much less emotionally intense that Oleanna, but that has more to do with the script than anything else. The two plays were very different, also in size; Krudttønden is such a tiny, intimate stage, that in comparison the Royal Theatre's Gamle Scene is huge - that also makes for quite a different experience. I'm very happy I watched both plays - and I definitely have to keep up the habit of watching a lot of plays!

Aside from watching theatre, I also twice this week practiced my directing skills - I helped a friend who was also in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" prepare for an audition at a drama school. Coincidentally, she had found a monologue from Oleanna, which we then rehearsed for her modern part; it was an excerpt from the first act, where Carol (the student) protests when the professor questions the purpose of higher education. It went really well, and I personally think she turned out to be much better than any of the versions we could find on youtube ^^

For the classical pieces we rehearsed Ophelia's "O what a noble mind is here overthrown"-monologue from Hamlet, as well as Puck's "Though the forest have I gone..." from A Midsummer Night's Dream. I have missed doing Shakespeare! We've had some good times watching the 2010 David Tennant version of Hamlet, which is by the way brilliant, and laughing at the ridiculous acting of Kenneth Branagh in his 1996 version. I found it difficult to give directions on Ophelia - it is difficult to make it anything but static, and the emotions have to come by themselves in order to seem real. Puck was a bit easier, and we managed to redo the scene so we didn't just copy Puck from our school play (which was played by a different actor) - ending up with a good result. Her audition was today, and I can't wait to hear about how it went. I've been crossing fingers and toes and whatnot all day, so now we'll just have to wait for the results --

Good luck to her, and good luck to me with universities!

New vintage buy - pheasant feather hat

2011-01-20T17:48:00.008+01:00

My new hat, displayed on a white wig. The pictures are taken front, side, back :)

Haven't written in here for a very very long time - but today I suddenly felt like it :)

I'm responsible for costumes for my school's production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which gives me an excuse to spend hours every week shopping in second hand stores. I've found some good things for myself in the process - including a wonderful blue Prada shirt and a red silk dress (I might upload pictures at some point). Today, I went to the Kirkens Korshær by Nordhavn station, and bought a couple of things for costumes. It was one of the really nice shops, where you can find real gems - there was a Dior skirt suit hanging in the window, together with an 80s electric blue silk dress from Illum. I just got a white men's formal dress shirt, a Philosophy Blues Original men's shirt and an orange bow tie ^^

Afterwards I went to the Kirkens Korshær by the Frederiksberg metro station (Falkoner Allé), which is also a favourite shop of mine. The ladies of Frederiksberg hand in many good items! (this does however also mean you cannot find a Prada shirt at 20 dkr as I did in Brønshøj - the volunteers know their brands). I didn't buy anything for the play today, but I did buy the pheasant-feather hat in the pictures below - ended up getting it for 25 kr, because the lady thought it would be too much trouble for me to go out and find a cash machine. Very, very nice of her ^^

By the way: Saw this shoot today on Fashion Gone Rogue, think it's absolutely gorgeous! Click here

Summer vacation is finally set!

2010-05-23T20:27:00.002+02:00

And I'm going to Paris :D

or, rather, touring northern France, ending with 4 days in Paris. But still. And because my mum is not home for my 18th birthday we are probably going to spend a day just the two of us. My plan is as follows:

1. Vintage shopping in the 4th arrondissement; Free 'P' Star, Fripes Star, Coiffeur are what I have found so far.

2. Eating the best Fallafel in Paris at L'As du Fallafel

3. Spa and general relaxation at La Grande Mosque

4. Dinner and show at the Moulin Rouge

Doesn't that just sound great?

By the way, tips on vintage shopping will be greatly appreciated.

Planning Halloween

2009-09-29T16:53:00.004+02:00

Hi, long time no see!

I have been crazy busy with starting school and everything, so I'm sorry I haven't written here for a while. I guess this post is a mix of procrastination from math homework, hearing an interview with a blogger on the radio and looking through my lookbook for this season.

Generally, this season is super sleek with wonderful satin dresses and architectural jackets. However, I've always been a sucker for big skirts, and there were some of those as well :) More on the other styles later, right now I feel like having some fun.

Seeing this style from Betsey Johnson I got to think about halloween; last year I had a great time at the party I was at (I never really got over the whole playing dress-up phase). In a fantasy world where I had all the money I could want, this dress could definitely be in the run.

It is a bit similar to my costume last year; I went for a goth-lolita look with a pink wig. The dress was a bit too big and I hadn't gotten my tutu yet (bought one in Stockholm this summer), so the dress wasn't as fluffy as it could have been. Other than that, I was quite happy with my look:

But this year I don't have a clue what to wear?!

Friends & Proverbs

2009-08-17T22:38:00.006+02:00

For some time, quite some time actually, I was sure I lacked people skills. I got along with people well enough on a general basis, but failed to make any lasting friendships. Maybe I do in some way lack people skills, at least in the way that I still don't have a gazillion friends, but I do have some. And I guess, having lacked them for so long, really makes me cherish my friends that much more. It's sort of the opposite of "you don't know what you've got 'till you've lost it". I guess it's more of a "you don't know how much you've missed it 'till you get it". It's not that I didn't sometimes feel lonely or wished for close relationships with others than my family, but I filled my time with other things and almost wondered how people could find time to have friends on top of everything else?

Now, of course, I know that you make time, and that you are happy to do it. Doing something for a friend, perhaps with other friends, is one of the most rewarding ways to spend your time. I made a photobook with some of my best friends for another one of my best friends, who's leaving to study abroad for 2 years. We will miss her terribly, but we will make sure to Skype each other, and we'll see her when she comes home for the Christmas- and summerholidays. Truth is, I would probably have taken the opportunity as well if I were in her shoes, so I can't really blame her for going; and I am truly happy for her. Still, it's not the same. I knew what I had, and I am very sad to see her go. We all love you girl <3

My birthday is the day after tomorrow, and I'm very excited. I just got my first present today: A birthday poster, filled with pictures of me and friends + a giant happy b-day and lots of comments. It's funny how I never really got the whole "it's the thought that counts"-idea before. I talk about wishlists in one of my previous posts, and one of the things I wrote was that nothing was better than a personal gift. This one didn't cost more than the price of a piece of cardboard and ink for the printer, yet it means so much more than probably most of the things I'll get for my birthday. Love for you all <3